Practice report
NASCAR Cup Homestead
Logano and Truex top final practice; Kyle Busch scrapes the wall
Joey Logano shows plenty of speed as he attempts to win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Jim Utter
Edited: Nov 17, 2018, 8:01 PM
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Logano completed a sweep of Saturday’s practice sessions in preparation for Sunday’s Ford 400 season finale, leading the way in the final practice with an average lap speed of 171.701 mph. He was also fastest in Saturday’s first session and qualified fifth for Sunday’s race.
In addition, Logano had the fastest average lap speed among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps.
Although he has the fewest wins of the Championship 4 (two), Logano insists he is just as much a favorite for the title as anyone.
“We’ve been able to get our way through each round, really by the time we get to the cut-off race, because we’ve been able to execute under the pressure, get the stage points,” Logano said. “Now we’ve been leading the races, getting stage wins.
“Pit crew has been on it. Grabbing a race win, maybe the most important one of all year, to get us ready for this one here, Miami. Yeah, how do you not feel confident in that? You have to.
“I’m sure everyone else feels confident, that they’re the favorite. I’m pretty sure they think that, too. If you don’t, then just go home, right?”
Reigning series champion and fellow title contender Martin Truex Jr. ended up second-fastest (170.584 mph) in single-lap speed and Logano’s Team Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski was third (170.428 mph). Erik Jones and Aric Almirola completed the top-five.
The final two title contenders, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, ended up 12th and 14th-fastest, respectively.
Busch appeared to scrub the wall with the right-side of his No. 18 Toyota in the final minutes of practice. The damage did not appear to be serious.
Rounding out the Top 10 in single-lap speed were Ryan Blaney, pole-winner Denny Hamlin, Paul Menard, Daniel Suarez and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Drivers Jamie McMurray and Ross Chastain had to sit out the final 15 minutes of the practice session after their respective cars failed pre-qualifying inspection on Friday twice.
Cla # Driver 4506 Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 22 
Joey Logano Ford 60 31.450 171.701 2 78 
Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 56 31.656 0.206 0.206 170.584 3 2 
Brad Keselowski Ford 50 31.685 0.235 0.029 170.428 4 20 
Erik Jones Toyota 57 31.729 0.279 0.044 170.191 5 10 Aric Almirola Ford 50 31.813 0.363 0.084 169.742 6 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 43 31.858 0.408 0.045 169.502 7 11 
Denny Hamlin Toyota 60 31.869 0.419 0.011 169.444 8 21 
Paul Menard Ford 47 31.897 0.447 0.028 169.295 9 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 58 31.905 0.455 0.008 169.252 10 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 42 31.942 0.492 0.037 169.056 11 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 47 31.963 0.513 0.021 168.945 12 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 50 32.031 0.581 0.068 168.587 13 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 39 32.105 0.655 0.074 168.198 14 4 
Kevin Harvick Ford 52 32.156 0.706 0.051 167.931 15 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 51 32.256 0.806 0.100 167.411 16 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 35 32.259 0.809 0.003 167.395 17 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 48 32.297 0.847 0.038 167.198 18 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 43 32.342 0.892 0.045 166.966 19 6 Matt Kenseth Ford 54 32.400 0.950 0.058 166.667 20 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 34 32.582 1.132 0.182 165.736 21 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 46 32.661 1.211 0.079 165.335 22 41 
Kurt Busch Ford 46 32.690 1.240 0.029 165.188 23 38 David Ragan Ford 42 32.759 1.309 0.069 164.840 24 34 Michael McDowell Ford 35 32.773 1.323 0.014 164.770 25 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 45 32.826 1.376 0.053 164.504 26 24 William Byron Chevrolet 43 32.855 1.405 0.029 164.359 27 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 45 32.962 1.512 0.107 163.825 28 95 Regan Smith Chevrolet 31 32.970 1.520 0.008 163.785 29 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 51 32.974 1.524 0.004 163.765 30 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 46 33.177 1.727 0.203 162.763 31 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 33 33.391 1.941 0.214 161.720 32 23 
J.J. Yeley Ford 30 33.804 2.354 0.413 159.744 33 72 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 17 33.889 2.439 0.085 159.344 34 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 30 33.913 2.463 0.024 159.231 35 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 20 34.030 2.580 0.117 158.684 36 99 Kyle Weatherman Chevrolet 28 34.393 2.943 0.363 157.009 37 97 Tanner Berryhill Toyota 15 34.588 3.138 0.195 156.124 38 51 B.J. McLeod Ford 13 34.636 3.186 0.048 155.907
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